10 Best Console Games Ported To Mobile

When mobile gaming first manifested in the mid-2000s, devices couldn’t handle anything more strenuous than Bejeweled or Solitaire.

Phones were getting better, with the introduction of touch screens both increasing control potential and screen real estate.

Unfortunately, they definitely didn’t have the same specs as a PC or game console.

In the time since then, though, not only have phones gotten smarter, but games have gotten more compartmentalized.

It’s still not feasible to play a super-AAA release on a phone, but various smaller, simpler games originally released for consoles and PCs have been successfully adapted for phones and tablets.

While this still isn’t the ideal way to play a game compared to a controller or mouse, it’s definitely a lot easier to enjoy your games with a pocket device than it used to be.

10 Vampire Survivors

The All-Purpose Time-Waster

When Vampire Survivors launched in Early Access in 2021, it swiftly became the definitive time waster for just about all Steam users.

To nobody’s particular surprise, a time-wasting game is perfect for the mobile scene.

When else are you going to open a game on your phone if not to waste time, after all?

The game’s naturally hands-off control scheme makes it very easy to control with one hand while you eat lunch or hold onto a bus handle.

The mobile version is also free to play, which is neat, though it has ads, which is less neat.

9 Baba Is You

Brain Teasers On The Bus

Whether you’re standing on a long bus ride or cooped-up on a cross-country flight, you desperately need some kind of mental stimulation.

For some, this involves books or movies. But, if you want a game that’ll get the neurons firing, you can play Baba is You.

Baba is You is low-tech enough that you won’t set your phone on fire trying to play it.

It’s also more than engaging and cerebral enough to get you through the lion’s share of a long commute.

Unfortunately, the mobile version doesn’t have a level creator, but the base game offers plenty of puzzles to enjoy.

8 Stardew Valley

There are Still Chores To Be Done

You know how, when you have something you’re supposed to be getting done, you get the urge to start doing chores?

You probably shouldn’t be doing that, but if you’re going to anyway, you might as well get engaged in an entire farm’s worth of chores.

Stardew Valley is full of mindless tasks you can set your mind to, from tending the crops to chatting up the neighbors.

Playing Stardew Valley on your phone might be a better choice if you’re actually planning on getting to that thing you were supposed to do at some point.

You can put your phone down faster than quitting out of a game on a console or PC, after all.

7 Slay The Spire

Slayin’ Between Classes

The run-based structure of roguelike and roguelite games gives them a sort of natural compartmentalization.

One run probably won’t take you all day, and even if it does, you can save and quit and pick it up later.

This is the advantage of games like Slay the Spire for mobile devices.

If you’re not looking to commit fully to a run, just play for a little while, fighting a few enemies, then wait til you get home to do it more seriously.

Slay the Spire’s card framework also makes it fairly easy to tap and control on a smaller touch screen.

6 Balatro

Gambling On The Go

Speaking of cards, card games have been a part of the mobile gaming scene since the start of the boom.

Much like the days of Solitaire on Windows 3.0, simple card games are pretty easy to make work on less beefy platforms.

It’s because of this that Balatro’s deviously addicting design is perfect for the mobile scene.

It’s a quick game that you can whip out and knock out relatively fast, and you can be as laid back or cerebral about it as you like.

Much like the PC version, you can also pause and save mid-run, which is valuable for when life comes knocking.

5 Chrono Trigger

There’s Always Time For Time Travel

One of the upshots of improvements in phones and tablets is that they’ve more than exceeded the capabilities of older game consoles.

As a result, it’s become easier to play classic games from the 16-bit era.

For instance, if you’re hankering for a meaty classic that you can pick up and put down over a long period, you can play Chrono Trigger on mobile.

The mobile version has all the same features and mechanics of the SNES classic, but with a few quality-of-life bits added in.

The biggest one is an on-field autosave, which makes it easier to put the phone down as necessary.

4 Dead Cells

Keep Your Head In The Game

One of the big hurdles to broadening the field of console-to-mobile games is accommodating faster-paced games.

A touch screen is, unfortunately, still not the best way to play a game that requires snap reflexes.

However, games like Dead Cells have made some impressive strides toward this goal.

Not only does the mobile version of Dead Cells have all the same features and content as the console versions, it has extra customization features to improve your experience.

You can enable an auto-hit mode so you don’t have to mash your screen to attack, as well as freely customize the side and position of your buttons on your touch screen.

3 Little Nightmares

Get A Quick Spook

There’s a good chance you’re going to be wearing headphones while you play games on your phone, especially if you’re flipping between other distractions like music and videos.

If you’re already in an audio-isolated atmosphere, it might be a good time to enjoy a horror game.

Something intense and bloody might not be good for playing in public, but something just creepy and unsettling, like Little Nightmares, can definitely work.

Just be careful not to get too absorbed if you’re playing on a plane or something.

The last thing you want is to get spooked by a little bump.

2 Papers, Please

Always Check The Fine Print

One mildly annoying thing about a lot of mobile games is that you need to hold your phone horizontally to play them.

This can be a bit of a strain if you’re playing with one hand, or inconvenient if you use two hands.

If you want a game you can play one-handed, a surprising candidate is the mobile version of Papers, Please.

While the original game had a wide, horizontal view, the mobile version is built for portrait orientations.

Not only does this make it easier to play with one hand, but it also makes it a little easier to read the font on documents.

1 Game Dev Tycoon

Working On Your Lunch Break

It’s fair to be skeptical of certain genres of games that may seem a little too complex to reasonably manage on a touch screen.

Something like a business simulator or management game that would normally use a lot of menus and keyboard shortcuts might feel too unwieldy.

The devs of Game Dev Tycoon have considered that, which is why the mobile version was overhauled from the original release to better accommodate fast interactions and touch controls.

The release of the mobile version even added some new content that wasn’t originally in the console release, such as extra modes and an updated storyline.